Three Long Months
by Lady-Christian-Knight-88
Summary: Second Semester of senior year, Kaiba thought he was on the fast track out of High School. Then he got called to the office. Who would've thought that a few missing credits could make his life go nuts?
1. Prolouge A problem

He was only there because he hated History class. It would've been simple to just ignore the slip of paper that the office TA had placed on his desk. Of course, he already knew what would be discussed that day. It was a simple matter of reading ahead in the textbook...and he could practically teach the lesson himself.

In truth, the office summon was more then welcome; Confusing, but still welcome. As he hurried down the hall, Seto glanced at the slip of paper in his hand. Mr. Harrington rarely called him, and when he did, it was important. Turning sharply into the doorway, Seto barley spared a quick double-rap on the door with his knuckles before moving across the room and sitting. The chair was small, and Seto's knees rose up awkwardly, forcing him to stretch his legs out as far as possible.

Mr. Harrington was a relatively small man, dark blond hair combed carefully over an ever-growing bald spot. He wore a dark blue suit, and his brown eyes had a constant sparkle in them. That sparkle, however, was dim at the moment. His voice was quiet as he said "Mr. Kaiba. Thank you for coming."

It hadn't occurred to Seto that there was a real problem until that moment. Mr. Harrington typically refused to call a student Mr. or Ms. Anything. Worst-case scenarios raced through Seto's mind. It took a moment to calm himself, and when he did, he said "You're welcome. What's wrong?"

The senior councilor recoiled. He hadn't been expecting such a direct response, or the knowledge that there was a problem. "Well...I'll just get right to the point." He acknowledged, admitting only to himself he was stalling.

"Please do." Seto responded instantly, not needing Mr. Harrington to admit it to know.

Mr. Harrington took a deep breath, and then answered. "You may not be able to graduate on time."


	2. Chapter 1 That's bad

Seto's mind continued to race. Why wouldn't he get to graduate on time? Would it even be that important if he didn't? Suddenly, he remembered the telephone call he'd gotten a few days ago. It hadn't meant much to him at the time, he'd been planning on keeping Mocuba on a tighter leash anyway. Still, a warning was a warning, and he'd been warned that one screw-up would result in Mocuba being taken from him. Not graduating from high school on time would definitely qualify as a screw-up. A major screw-up. Were the circumstances different he wouldn't care less. His company would support him regardless. In truth, he considered school little more then a necessary annoyance. But he was already on thin ice with CPS.

Seto took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself. This wasn't the time to panic. No time was ever the time to panic. Once calm again, although he'd never been visibly anything but, he finally asked "Why not?"

Mr. Harrington sighed and shook his head. "You're not going to believe this..." he muttered, rubbing his chin.

"Try me." Seto answered, irritated. He needed to know what was wrong, and what he could do to fix it.

Mr. Harrison looked at Seto and said "You don't have enough fine arts credits..."

Seto's mind reeled. Fine arts? "I wasn't aware fine arts were a requirement."

"It is." Mr. Harrington responded. "Now, fortunately, that web design class you took sophomore year covered two semesters worth of your Fine arts requirement...and that semester you spent in creative writing covered the other part..." Seto groaned at a reference to what had to be one of his worst high-school experiences ever. Mr. Harrington continued "But you still need one semester of Fine Arts..."

"I don't see the problem." Seto intrupted. "There's exactly one semester left of high school...I could take a fine arts class starting next week."

"Well..." Mr. Harrington began "That's the problem...you see...almost every fine arts class is full. There's only one with a spot left..."

"Then I'll take that one." Seto answered quickly. He could tell from the hesitation in Mr. Harrington's voice that there was no way it would be an easy class. In fact, he was liable to completely humiliate himself.

Mr. Harrington shuttered slightly, as though hating the idea of Seto in this particular class. Seto's mind raced. What could possibly be so bad? Whatever it was, he'd endure it. The memory of the phone call that had been a simple annoyance when it occurred was now sending chills through the length of his spine. He could take anything Mr. Harrington could throw at him. But for some reason, his mind wasn't ready for the answer he'd finally get.

"Alright...I'll go ahead and sign you up for Dance Class."

Lunch was anything but fun. He wasn't in a good mood, and he intended to eat quickly and spend the rest of the time catching up on paperwork. Yet somehow, Yugi Moto always managed to ruin even the simplest of plans.

"Hey Seto."

Seto had to look down at Yugi even when he was sitting and the other boy was standing. "What do you want?" Seto asked, trying to force his typical dangerous tone into his voice. He wasn't sure if he was unsuccessful, or if Yugi was just immune to his intimidation attempts.

"I just saw you sitting alone" Yugi began "and figured you'd want some company."

Seto returned to his paperwork, attempting to ignore his rival. "You were wrong."

Out of the corner of his eye, Seto noticed that Yugi sat across from him anyway. Seto mentally sighed. Why? Why did Yugi have to sit with him? Didn't he have those pathetic friends to sit with? Seto shook his head, and continued to ignore Yugi. So when he asked "What are you working on?" Seto didn't respond.

For a while, they sat in silence. Seto working, Yugi eating. Then, Yugi asked what must've been his reason for sitting here in the first place. "So what was the office summons about, anyway?"

Realizing Yugi wouldn't go away without tan answer, Seto said simply "My schedule for next semester."

"Oh..."

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Seto finally snapped at Yugi. "Look...unless you plan on challenging me to a duel I suggest you leave me alone."

On that note, Yugi picked up his trey, and left, muttering an apology as he left. Then, he stopped, turned around, and commented "I was just trying to be friendly." And with that, Yugi walked away.

Seto looked up. Yugi Moto was a pest, and the one major flaw in Seto's life. Still, he owed Yugi better then what he'd just given. Grudgingly putting away his paperwork, Seto called after him. "Yugi!"

Yugi didn't respond. The cafeteria was too loud. Seto sighed and pulled his paperwork out again. What reason did Yugi have to try to befriend him anyway? And what reason did he have to accept? They'd always be rivals...even enemies. And Seto had enough on his mind as it was.


	3. Chapter 2 First Day

Disclamer: 'bout time I put one of these in this story. So how 'bout I word it this way? Among the scribblings in my notebook there is a page where Mai states that if I owned them, she would kill herself. And while I don't think Mai will be making an appearence this story, I'm certian the feeling holds mutial for the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh population. Unfortuntly for them, however, I DO hold the right to tourture them, then return them to their previous state. Where, unless I'm mistaken, the producers of the show have worse already in mind.

Authors note: I baised Domino High school off of my own. YHS. (go Miners!) including some basic design of the place. Basicly, both gyms are outside...and fairly far appart. (I'm thinking opposite ends of the football feild for this one) and the music room is right next to the big (or main) gym. Just a note for future refrence. Same with the way dance class (espically first day of the semester) works at my school. Trust me, I endured this tourture for an entire year. And while I may have had the advantage of being female...Kaiba has it easy time-wise.

Now on to what you came here for...

* * *

Serenity squealed. "I've got dance with you this time!"

Tea' grinned at her friend as they compared schedules. "It looks like we've got computer skills together too."

"Huh?" Serenity asked, looking at the other paper more carefully. "I thought that was just a freshman class."

Tea' shook her head. "No. It's for any grade, but it's preferred to take it freshman year."

Serenity could barley contain her excitement. She had one whole semester of high school under her belt and couldn't wait to get started on this new semester! Despite how most older students treated freshmen, she was having a blast. Except for having to wake up so early in the morning, that is.

Just then, Yugi approached an odd expression on his face. Serenity didn't notice at first, instead, she just asked "Want to compare classes with me, Yugi?" It seemed for a moment that Yugi couldn't hear her over the hundreds of similar conversations taking place in this room. He kept glancing quizzically behind him, towards the table marked clearly "K-M" where he'd gotten his semester class list. Serenity realized there must be something else wrong, but she didn't say anything. "Yugi? Want to compare schedules?"

Yugi shook his head, as though snapping out of a trance. "Huh? Oh, sure Serenity." He held out his slip of paper, and all three leaned in to look.

Serenity sighed and said "too bad. We don't have any classes together."

"Looks like we've got a math together again this year, Yugi." Tea' said "Geometry this time."

"Yeah." Yugi responded, not really noticing. He looked over at the door, the same expression on his face.

"Yugi?" Tea' had finally had enough of this. "What's wrong?"

Something clicked in Serenity's memory and she found herself saying "K through M. He must've run into Kaiba."

Yugi nodded, completly unsurprised at how quickly Serenity had reached that conclusion. Tea' spoke next, concerned and confused. "What? That's all? Yugi, he's never affected you like this before."

"He's never acted like that before ether." Yugi commented, sounding relieved someone had figured it out before he'd had to come right out and say. "I mean...Kaiba's always a little curt, but he was acting like he was scared of something."

"That's defiantly weird." Tea' responded.

Even as she spoke Joey approched, stride just short of a run. "Hey! Have any of you seen Kaiba this morning?"

"That's a weird question coming from you." Tea' commented, not really meaning to answer.

It was Yugi who actually responded to Joey's question. "Yeah...a few minutes ago."

"Is it my imagination or did he seem weirder then usual?" At the odd glances of his friends, Joey explained "I ran into him outside, almost litterally, and he just told me to watch it. No dog cracks to be heard."

"When I ran into him, he acted like he was afraid of something." Yugi added.

Before any more could be said, the bell rang. With waves all around and a quick hug between the sibbilings, everyone went their separate ways for their first class of the second semester.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first three periods of the day had gone off without a hitch. Yes, he had a chemestry class with Wheeler, who had almost seemed relieved when Seto had insulted him after accidentally sitting directly across the labtable from him. Other then that, things were fine. But now, dance class was about to start.

A glance at his schedule reminded him he wasn't going up to the big gym where PE was held. No...this was the small gym, put there especially for Dance class and Dance class only. Well, he knew from experience that PE would merge with dance class occasionally for the PE's dance and gymnastics units...an experience Seto remembered all too well and wasn't looking forward to repeating. He was only glad that had happened before he'd met Yugi...or the experence would've been far more humilating. Much like this one.

As he entered the gym, he found it already buzzing with girls. Seto inwardly winced. He'd suspected he'd be the only male in the class, but now...it seemed so much more real of a concept. It didn't take long to resolve to just wait things out until class got underway. Seto hurried, staying close to the wall ether by a conscious desire to remain unseen, or because it was simply the quickest way to the only unpopulated corner of the gym. He suspected both. Settling in the corner, back to one wall shoulder against the other, Seto elected to wait until a teacher entered and called the class to order.

It never happened. Seto sat in the corner for almost an hour. He dozed out at least twice, and the chatter of everyone around him, not to mention at least half a dozen basketballs being played with all at once, had given him a headache. It was five minutes before the class ended when Seto finally grew uncomfortable with his position. Standing up to stretch, he looked around impatiently. He'd been board for forty minutes...now he was beyond board...and he still had five more minutes left to waste.

May as well just take the long way back to the door...hopefully that would take up at least three of those minutes.

--- ---

"Is that Seto Kaiba?" Serenity asked, staring across the room.

Tea's mouth dropped open. "What's he doing here?" she asked, shocked.

The two girls had been talking and playing basketball, and generally just relaxing for the entire period. They hadn't even looked towards the other side of the room except to fetch their ball when it went stray or when someone shouted for them to watch out...a common occurrence. Serenity debated inwardly for a moment, then said "Let's go find out."

Tea nodded in agreement, and the two girls sprinted across the gym.

Six possible periods for dance class...and he happened to land the same class as not just Yugi's friend, but the Mutt's little sister too. For an instant, Seto felt like ether bolting from the building or knocking his head against the nearest wall. Instead, he gritted his teeth together and responded to their warm greeting with a simple nod.

"What are you doing in dance class?" Tea' asked, lacking on the tact as always.

Deciding that, for the sake of peace, he should answer honestly, Seto responded "Last-minute fine arts credit."

For a moment, all three stood there awkwardly. Tea' and Serenity were obviously searching for something to say. Seto decided not to give them the opportunity, and brushed past them, walking quickly to the other wall of the gym.

It was a big class. With luck, this would be the only time he'd see them all semester.

Of course, something buried deep in the back of his mind reminded him that when it came to friends of Yugi Moto, his luck simply didn't run that way.


End file.
